Ship by-passes port as strike bites

Press, 25 September 1987, Page 3

Ship by-passes port as strike bites

Nelson reporter

One ship has by-passed Port Nelson and another is at anchor outside the harbour since the port was shut by a harbour workers’ strike this week.

The Nelson Harbourmaster, Captain John Westbrooke, said yesterday that he believed B.H.P. Transport, which runs the Tasman vessel Iron Arnhem had “gone straight past” Port Nelson because of the strike. “She was initially due here on Thursday to loadmedium density fibreboard for Sydney but I have heard she is not

coming at all now,” he said. The Key Splendour, with a cargo of car parts for the New Zealand Motor Corporation’s Nelson assembly plant, arrived outside the harbour entrance at 4.30 a.m. yesterday and is at anchor there, awaiting the end of the strike.

The oil tanker Amokura was due to leave Wellington for Nelson last even-

ing. Captain Westbrooke expected the Amokura to “trundle slowly up through Cook Strait and wait and see what happens (today).”

The wood chip carrier Raicho is also tied up at McGlashen Quay waiting to sail after finishing her loading on Wednesday,

and the Kiwi Star, a log ship, is also confined to port by the strike. The Nelson Harbour Board’s general manager, Mr Doug Green, said he was concerned about the disruption to shipping activities caused by the strike. “It has an effect and a cost to our customers that is wholly undesirable and unnecessary,” he said.

The future of the strike, which began on Tuesday, will be determined this morning in the Labour Court at Wellington. Judge Finnigan will hear an application by the board for a compliance order, which if granted would compel the 68 striking harbour workers to return to work and accept arbi-

tration to resolve the impasse over a redundancy agreement.

Defiance of a compliance order could result in fines of up to $5OOO and prison sentences under the terms of the new Labour Relations Act in-

troduced last month. However, the secretary of the New Zealand Harbour Workers’ Union, Mr Ross Wilson, has given an

assurance that the Nelson members will comply with the Court’s direction. The workers will meet at 1 p.m. today to review the strike, but their hands will be tied if the Court grants the application. The compliance order application took a new twist yesterday when the board served individual notices on all striking harbour workers. Mr Green said he had been advised that the act required both the unions and individuals to be served with notices of the board’s application.

The union’s industrial officer, Mr Eddie Dickson, said, however, that the board’s move was an "insult to the integrity of the union. It was not necessary because our secretary undertook in discussons with the employer’s representatives on Wednesday that our members in Nelson would obey the decision of the Court.”

Mr Dickson said the serving of individual notices raised important legal questions about representation at today’s court hearing. The strik-

ing member were now cited parties and might require individual representation.

“I just see it as an intimidatory tactic towards our Nelson members on behalf of the employers. It serves no proper purpose.” If the Court grants the compliance order, the harbour worker will return to work and the redundancy agreement will be resolved by arbitration. The board has arranged for a disputes meeting to be held in Wellington on Monday morning, but the union has not been advised by the mediation service and will not be able to attend because its secretary, Mr Wilson, has other commitments until Tuesday.

The row which has effectively closed Port Nelson is over the board’s notified intention to make 13 land-based harbour workers redundant in November. The union has asked for the shedding of staff to be achieved through voluntary redundancies and early retirement, but the board has indicated a preference for compulsory redundancies.